and wake up unscathed
by The Crownless Queen
Summary: In a world of soulmarks and soulmates, Charlie doesn't know what to do with his. For Lo.


Written for Laura through the MOS Exchange: Charlie, Genres: Friendship, Family, Prompts: soulmate!AU, asexual character.

For Hogwarts' 365 Prompts Challenge: Sexuality - Asexual, the Insane House Challenge: ,

the Writing Club: Character Appreciation - 15 (trait) courageous, Showtime - 46: Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story - (word) time, Emy's Emporium - Spain 1 - the tapas: (event) family dinner, Low's Lowdown: Overarching Prompts 3 - (genre) friendship.

Also for the Seasonal Challenges: Days of the Year - August 12 2018: Middle Child's Day - write about what it's like to be a middle child, Shay's Musical Challenge: Pippin - write about trying to discover yourself, Gryffindor Themed Prompts: (character) Bill Weasley, (trait) valiant.

And the Funfair Events: Eastern - Penny Slot Machine: 1 - Charlie Weasley, 3 - Bill Weasley, 56 - (au) soulmates, Northern: Sophie's Ice Cream Stall - Buttermilk - Bill Weasley & Cream Cheese - Charlie Weasley.

Also for the Quidditch League Round 6, Appleby Arrows Chaser 2 - Charlie Weasley, (song) Stand by Me - Ben E. King, (color) taupe, (word) striped.

 _Word count:_ 3029

* * *

A soulmark is something everyone is born with—a sign from magic itself, or perhaps even the universe, that everyone has a place they belong to. That everyone has a soulmate—a person whose soul is so close to theirs they'll always understand each other, always love each other.

It takes Charlie twelve years to go from loving his mark to dreading it.

.

Charlie Weasley is born two days early with a dragon sketched on the back of his right hand. The mark is small still, but it is easy to see that had a red and gold-striped skin.

"This one'll be a Gryffindor for sure," the mediwitch says.

Arthur laughs, so much joy shining through his face that Molly feels like she's staring at the sun.

"He can be whatever he wants to be," he replies and Molly's heart swells in her chest.

Merlin, she loves this man—she can't believe she got so lucky as to have him as her soulmate.

"Charlie," she interjects, her voice raw. "His name's Charlie."

"Charlie," Arthur repeats. The word sounds even better in his mouth, and almost as though he already knows to answer to it, Charlie starts to wiggle in her arms, babbling meaningless noises loudly.

Molly chuckles as she holds him out to her husband. "There," she says, "I think he wants you to take him."

Arthur cradles their son in his arms like he's made of glass, and Molly melts a little. Still, the move made Charlie's mark more visible, and Molly's breath catches in her chest a little at the sight of it.

It's beautiful, and she can certainly see why the mediwitch thought it meant Charlie would be a Gryffindor. It's hard not to think the same staring at the red and gold hues embed on her son's skin, and Molly sends a quick prayer of thanks that her son has such a wonderful soulmark.

"He's perfect." The words slip out of her mouth without her notice, but she doesn't regret them.

Arthur chuckles, eyes riveted to their son. "He is," he whispers softly. "He really is."

.

"Charlie?! Bill?! Where are you? It's time for you to help me set the table—your father will be here soon!"

Their mother's voice echoes loudly through the room, but it fades away as she moves away, calling out their names again.

Charlie giggles underneath his big brother's hand, and licks it.

"Charlie!" Bill hisses, making a disgusted face as he wipes his hand clean on his trousers.

Charlie stares back innocently. "What?"

"Don't give me that face, you know it doesn't work on me," Bill retorts. "I thought we agreed you wouldn't do that again," he adds, frowning.

Charlie shrugs. "You shouldn't have put your hand over my mouth then."

"You were being too loud," Bill retorts with an urgent hiss. "Mum would have found us!"

Charlie huffs loudly but doesn't reply. He _had_ been being loud. But in his defense, Bill had never brought him to the attic before, and the place was amazing, if a bit dusty.

The space is big, easily as big as the first floor of their house, with taupe walls that somehow look warm and welcoming rather than oppressing. It's littered with odd knick-knacks Charlie doesn't know what to make of. A large window framed with off-white curtains is the only thing providing light to the room. It makes everything look like a dream, and for an instant Charlie wonders if he's still asleep.

And then their mother's voice echoes again, this time coming from the window they cracked open earlier when the dust kept making them sneeze, and Charlie flinches so hard he knocks his head against… something hanging low from the ceiling.

"Ouch!" he yells, rubbing the sore spot. He raises his head to ask Bill why he didn't warn him, but when he does, he sees his brother's face frozen in panic.

Which is when he realizes how silent everything is—their mother has stopped calling out for them, which can only mean one thing…

"Down!" Bill whispers urgently, and they start to race toward the door.

It's hard to climb down a ladder quickly, but they somehow manage to. Charlie is still laughing when they stumble downstairs.

Percy, bent over a book that Charlie could swear is too advanced for them, looks at them boredly. "Mum was looking for you."

"We heard," Charlie replies, trying the best he can to calm his racing heart and to force his face into something resembling contrition. "That's why we came down."

Percy hums something back. "Well, you should go find her then. I think she said she'd send the twins after you next if she couldn't find you," he says before turning back to his book.

 _One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi_ , the title reads, and Charlie bites back a chuckle as he recognizes Bill's old Herbology book. It's supposed to go to him now that he's starting his first year, but as that's still a couple of months away, Charlie doesn't really care.

Besides, he'd much rather read _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_. That mentions _dragons_ , and not just boring old herbs.

His soulmark's a dragon, after all. They're clearly the best subject.

Unfortunately, he doesn't have much time to think about it, because his mother storms into the room.

"There you boys are!" she cries out, engulfing them into a tight hug. "I've been looking for you everywhere!" She sends Bill a disapproving look. "You better not have been going back to that death trap of an attic, young man!"

Bill shoots her back the widest, most innocent grin Charlie has ever seen. "Of course not, Mum. I'd never."

As she turns her focus back on Charlie, Bill winks at him and Charlie only just manages to refrain from rolling his eyes back at him.

It drives the twins mad, how their eldest brother can get away with almost anything while at age 5 they're already regarded with suspicion whenever they try something. It used to drive Charlie mad too, but now that the same extends to him, he mostly just enjoys it.

Sometimes, he and Bill help the twins plan out one of their pranks, or as Fred and George say, they "use their evil powers to do good".

Molly huffs a loud sigh, but relents. "Well, then you boys can both help me set out the table then. I need to finish making dinner before your father comes back. Percy, dear, could you please clear up the table?"

"Now? But this was just getting interesting," he complains. "Can't I at least finish my chapter?"

"And how many pages is that?" Molly replies, tone half-fond, half-exasperated.

Percy shrugs sheepishly. "A few?"

Molly shakes her head and says, "You can finish your page. And when you're done, could you please tell the twins we're having dinner soon? I already told them, but I want to be sure they remember."

Percy rolls his eyes but reluctantly closes his book, bending the top right corner to mark his page. He puts it down on his armchair and stomps off toward the table, muttering under his breath all the while, and Charlie bites back a giggle.

"What about Ron and Ginny?" Bill asks as they walk toward the kitchen. "Are they still napping?"

Ginny is their newest sibling—she's barely a few months old so it feels like she's sleeping all the time, even more than Ron who's only a year older, but everyone already knows she's Bill's favorite.

Truth be told, she's probably everyone's favorite.

"I'll wake them up when it's time to eat," Molly replies with a kind smile.

Bill nods, and together with Charlie they start setting the table.

As always, the gesture draws his eyes to the soulmark on the back of his hand. It's pretty, Charlie guesses. In fact, it seems to get prettier as he grows up—he's seen pictures of it when he was a baby, and it wasn't anywhere near as refined as it is now, where he can actually see the scales on the dragon's skin, and how different the red ones look to the gold ones.

Catching his lapse in attention, their mother chuckles. "Patience, Charlie. You'll meet them when you're supposed to."

Charlie's hands spasm. "You really think so?" His voice trembles a little. Somehow, the idea of actually _meeting_ his soulmate always makes his stomach churn unpleasantly.

But his mother always looks so happy about it, and about the stories from when she and his father where only just starting to date that Charlie has learned to ignore it and smile.

He's young still—he hasn't even started his first year at Hogwarts yet.

He can always figure it out later.

"Of course," Molly replies, unaware of her son's inner turmoil. "Everyone does."

Charlie smiles back and bites down the words that threaten to rise in his throat. He doesn't even know what they are yet, but his mind shies away from them anyway.

They finish setting the table in silence, though that doesn't last.

Silence never really does at the Burrow.

.

At Hogwarts, Charlie learns the real drawback of having his soulmark on his hand: everyone can see it. Everyone knows what it is, and they all seem to expect stuff from him because of it.

 _Surely_ , he hears them whisper, _someone with such a mark has to be destined for something great._

He tells Bill, who only laughs. "People always gossip," his brother tells him kindly. "You'll see, they'll move on from this."

"But isn't there anything I can do?"

Bill looks at him for a long time and Charlie's heart beats madly in his chest. Finally, his brother sighs. "I'll teach you a glamor spell. But, you know, Charlie, you really shouldn't hide this. What if your soulmate is—"

Charlie interrupts him quickly, stomach twisting. "I'm sure they'll find me just fine," he says, and he hopes his smile doesn't look as fake as it feels.

It might, though. He's never been great at hiding things from Bill.

In the end, Bill teaches him the spell, and the glamor truly helps. Eventually, people even forget Charlie ever had his mark exposed.

It's a relief, even if hiding makes his stomach roil a little.

It feels shameful somehow, no matter how many times he tells himself that plenty of people bear marks that aren't as obvious as his is.

Was.

He only cancels the glamor to sleep, and he examines his mark every night, fingers trailing over it softly. He traces the shape first, and then the stripes. It seems more vibrant each day, more detailed too, and Charlie half expects it to start moving any day now.

Not that it will, of course. Marks aren't magical that way.

It'd be nice, though, if they did.

.

The days pass. The _months_ pass, and Charlie makes friends.

Surprisingly enough, even though he gets on with most of his housemates, his best friend is a Hufflepuff girl who insists on being called Tonks.

And after he saw her curse someone with a painful-looking rash for calling her _Nymphadora_ instead, Charlie's inclined to agree with anything she says.

They had been partnered in their first Herbology class, during which Charlie is pretty sure he had saved Tonks-don't-you-dare-call-me-Nymphadora's life half a dozen times, and had been fast friends ever since.

Tonks likes Quidditch just as much as he does, if not more, and they train together for the tryout next years — even if she wants to be a Beater while he's aiming for Seeker. But at least he's getting some good practice dodging the tennis balls she tosses at him, even though these are much less nasty than an actual Bludger would be.

Somehow, Charlie doesn't think Hooch would agree to them using the Quidditch Pitch if they used one of those though, no matter who Tonks tries to disguise herself as.

(She can do a scarily good McGonagall, even if she can't hold it for longer than a handful of minutes so far, but Hooch had taken one look at her and threatened Tonks with detention with Filch for a week if she tried anything like that again.

Somehow, Charlie doesn't think that'll stop her for long, but it does put a stop to their dreams of using actual Quidditch equipment without supervision.)

The current Quidditch captain does notice his enthusiasm however, and he tells Charlie that if he keeps his drive up and does as well as he's seen in the try-outs next year, he's basically guaranteed a spot on the team.

Tonks insists they celebrate the news by pranking Snape, and Charlie suddenly has nightmares of her meeting Fred and George.

That can never happen—the twins _and_ Tonks combined would probably figure out a way to blow up the school if left to their own devices.

But somehow Tonks persuades him to help her—and okay, maybe he doesn't actually need a lot of persuasion—and get Peeves' help, and half a week later Snape walks into the Great Hall to receive a face full of a potion that turns his hair sunshine yellow.

Snape vows to punish the culprits, but Charlie can see that he's not the only one to find this amusing.

Besides, Charlie doubts anyone could or would argue that Snape didn't deserve it.

.

Between training for next year's tryouts, classes and his friends, Charlie barely has time to think about his soulmark anymore. Applying the glamor spell Bill taught him becomes a habit, and before he knows it, the year is over and they're on the train back home.

He spends the entire trip trailing his fingers over his mark. It's almost odd to see it unmasked again. It's changed again too, gained more details. It looks even fiercer than before—majestic, even—and Charlie finds himself wondering if maybe one day he'll look and see that his dragon is spitting fire.

It'd be fun, he thinks, even if it remains impossible.

"Thinking about your soulmate?"

The voice startles him out of his thoughts and his fingers freeze above his skin. He looks up, finding that Tonks is now staring at him, her hair suddenly as red as any Weasley's.

Sadly, even after a year of friendship, Tonks still doesn't really get the concept of tact or privacy most of the time.

Like right now.

"I'm sorry," she stutters. Impossible, her hair only turns redder. It's now a vibrant shade of crimson, to go with her flushed cheeks.

It makes Charlie laugh. "It's fine," he replies. "And…" His eyes drift down to his exposed mark, his fingers still hovering inches above his skin. He shrugs. "I guess I am. Thinking about them. Do you?"

Tonks is only too happy to extol on the possible virtues of her imagined soulmate at that, and Charlie exhales a sigh of relief as he listens to his friend tell him all about how her soulmate is undoubtedly a 'good-looking guy or gal' who'll be 'clever and like pranks'.

Her enthusiasm makes him laugh. It's almost easy to forget that Charlie spent an entire year hiding his mark from the world, himself included.

The train ride seems to flash by in the blink of an eye after that, and before he knows it he's saying goodbye to Tonks, and he and Bill are getting drawn into one of their mother's rib-crushing hugs.

It feels good to be back.

.

Second year is much of the same, but third year is when it gets really interesting.

In third year, he starts Care of Magical Creatures.

Oh, Charlie had always known this would be his favorite subject—he's read Newt Scamander's _Fantastic Beasts_ at least a hundred times and knows it almost by heart. He sent the author a letter once, and the answer he got is still amongst his most prized possessions.

But even so, he's still unprepared for how much he loves it. Professor Kettleburn proclaims him his best student in years, and he lets Charlie help him out after class, showing him creatures from the older years.

No dragon, though, even if Charlie's love and enthusiasm for them always seems to make Kettleburn laugh.

"You might replace me one day," the man jokes, and while the idea is tempting, Charlie shakes his head.

"I'm going to work with dragons," he states.

It's the first time he says it out loud, but as soon as he does, everything crystallizes in his mind.

He _will_ work with dragons.

.

Of course, not everything that year is as easy.

For one, people start dating.

It makes him realize, as everyone around him starts talking about romance and—ugh, _sex_ —that he's not that interested. The first sounds nice, sure, but the second? The idea of putting his mouth on someone else's made his stomach roil.

he doesn't really notice that he's gotten more withdrawn until Bill corners him outside the Forbidden Forest one day in his fourth year.

"What's up, Charlie? Are you alright?" he asks, and Charlie wants to deny it, wants to say he's fine—but what comes out of his mouth instead is a choked off sob.

"I think there's something wrong with me," he says. The whole story comes rushing out of him like blood from a deadly wound.

When he's done, Bill pulls him into a hug. "Is that why you hid your mark?" he asks.

Charlie shakes his head. "Not at first. But… A little."

Bill sighs as he draws back. "There is nothing wrong with you, little brother. Nothing. You're just right the way you are—so what if you don't want to kiss anyone, or if you don't want to meet your soulmate yet? Lots of people don't."

"But what if… What if they want me to be different?"

"Then screw them!" Bill replies in an uncharacteristic burst of anger. His face softens. "But I don't think they will." He smiles. "That's what a soulmate is, Charlie. The one person in the world who'll accept you as you are."

"Oh." He'd never heard it voiced quite like that before, but it helps. A lot.

"Yeah." Bill's smile widens. "Feeling better?"

Charlie nods. "Thanks."


End file.
